Mary, a lonely orphaned girl sent to a Yorkshire mansion at the edge of a vast, lonely moor. At first she is frightened by this gloomy place until she meets a local boy, Dickon, who's earned the trust of the moor's wild animals; the invalid Colin, an unhappy boy terrified of life; and a mysterious, abandoned garden....

Mary Lennox, a sickly and contrary little girl, is orphaned to dim prospects in a gloomy English manor - her only friend is a bed-ridden boy named Colin whose prospects may be dimmer than hers. But when Mary finds the key to a Secret Garden, the magical powers of transformation fall within her reach. A beloved classic of children's literature The Secret Garden tells an inspirational tale of transformation and empowerment.

Living off crumbs in a dreary attic, Sara Crewe comforts herself with wondrous stories of adventure and fortune, and in the end the stories become true.

Frances Hodgson Burnett introduces us to Mary Lennox, a spoiled and headstrong young girl sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven at Misselthwaite Manor after her parents die from a cholera outbreak in India. At first, Mary is as sour and rude as ever. She dislikes her new home, the people living in it, and, most of all, the bleak moor on which it sits.

When Mary Lennox is sent from India to live with her uncle at gloomy Misselthwaite Manor, she is the most spoiled and contrary child you could ever meet. But she is also extremely lonely. Until one day, she discovers a walled garden that has been kept secret for years. With the help of a little robin, Mary unearths the key and unlocks the wonder that lies beyond the garden walls - and finds that making friends can be every bit life-changing as a magical garden.

When Mary Lennox's parents die from cholera in India, the spoiled orphan is transplanted to her uncle's 600-year-old gloomy and secretive estate in England. She is certain that she is destined for misery at Misselthwaite Manor. However, she soon discovers an arched doorway into an overgrown garden, locked shut since the death of her aunt 10 years earlier.

Jules Verne’s classic science fiction fantasy carries its hero - Professor Aronnax of the Museum of Paris - on a thrilling and dangerous journey far below the waves to see what creatures live in the ocean’s depths. In the process, Verne imagined a vessel that had not yet been invented: the submarine.

When orphaned Mary Lennox comes to live at her uncle's great house, she finds it full of secrets. The mansion has nearly 100 rooms, and her uncle keeps himself locked up. And at night, she hears the sound of crying echoing down one of the long corridors. The gardens surrounding the large property are Mary's only escape. One day, Mary discovers a secret garden, surrounded by walls and locked with a missing key. With the help of two unexpected companions, Mary discovers a way in - and becomes determined to bring the garden back to life.

Sara Crewe is the brightest, richest, and most generous girl in Miss Minchin’s school for girls, and her father gives her everything she might desire. But when her beloved father dies, Sara’s friends and prized possessions are suddenly taken away, and she is banished to the attic and forced to work as a common drudge. Fed only crumbs, she still saves enough to feed her pet rat, and she tells wonderful stories to comfort Becky, the kitchen maid.

When Heidi, a lively orphan girl, goes to live with her grandfather in a little hut high in the Alps she soon learns to live in perfect harmony with her surroundings, leading a carefree life with her constant companion, Peter, a young goatherd. But her happiness is short-lived when she is sent to stay with a rich city family as a companion for the sick Clara. Although she becomes fond of the older girl, Heidi is terribly homesick.

"The Swiss Family Robinson" is an adventure novel co-authored by Johann David Wyss and Johann Rudolf Wyss. It has a plot that exemplifies family ideals and the use of the natural world to achieve self-reliance. The story begins with the family in the hold of a sailing ship, riding out a huge storm. The passengers abandon ship without them, and William and Elizabeth Robinson and their four children (Fritz, Ernest, Jack and Francis) are left to survive on their own. How will they cope?

Since its original publication in 1911, The Secret Garden has ranked as one of the world's best-loved novels, captivating children and adults alike with its luminous tale of secrets and revelations, growth and renewal, and, above all, the transforming power of love.

After losing her parents, young Mary Lennox is sent from India to live in her uncle's gloomy mansion on the wild English moors. She is lonely and has no-one to play with, but one day she learns of a secret garden somewhere in the grounds that no one is allowed to enter. Then Mary uncovers an old key in a flowerbed - and a gust of magic leads her to the hidden door. Slowly she turns the key and enters a world she could never have imagined.

Mary, unloved and selfish, finds friendship and happiness helping her neurotic, invalid cousin become strong and healthy. Nature's powerful magic touches both children as they toil to revive their secret garden. The story alludes to some very modern themes including the ability of mental beliefs to create health, the strength of group optimism, and the restorative power of nature.

"North and South" is a social novel by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. She uses a protagonist from southern England to present and comment on the perspectives of both mill owners and mill workers in an industrializing city. "North and South" is set in the fictional industrial town of Milton in the North of England. Forced to leave her home in the tranquil rural south, Margaret Hale settles with her parents in Milton where she witnesses the brutal world wrought by the industrial revolution and employers and workers clashing in the first organized strikes.